


Four-Cornered Eye of a Little God

by illustrious_paladin



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, Gailee - Freeform, M/M, the Village Hidden Behind the Mirror, the saga continues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 08:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21966586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illustrious_paladin/pseuds/illustrious_paladin
Summary: Despite the Leaf's efforts to regain the relic, the altar for the Hidden Mirror Village is still missing. However, a new lead comes from an unexpected source. Can Lee & Guy help this Mirror shinobi save her village? Or will they be too late?Sequel to "A Fully-Bloomed Lotus"
Relationships: Rock Lee/Maito Gai | Might Guy
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	1. Domesticity Interrupted

“You are not drying them fully,” Lee accused. 

Guy chuckled and snapped the dish towel at him. He teased, “Maybe you’re not washing them well enough.” 

The younger man rolled his eyes, the corners of his lips twitching. Guy snapped at him again. A dish clattered into the sink as Lee jumped away. 

“Too slow,” he quipped, “I think you might be getting old.”

The resulting laugh erupted straight from Guy’s gut. He feinted left before lunging right. Lee didn’t move as Guy wrapped him up in his arms, most likely crushing him against his kitchen counter. 

“Does it seem like I’m getting old?” he murmured. He ran his nose back and forth along Lee’s jaw. The younger man turned his face to smile into Guy’s hair. They remained like that for several long moments, simply enjoying one another’s embrace. Eventually, Lee pulled away and caressed Guy’s cheek. 

“You are certainly not getting old,” he assured him. 

Guy kissed his palm before beaming. “Good, I wouldn’t want to burden my young husband.”

Lee groaned and rolled his eyes, turning back to the dishes in the sink. “Not this again.”

Guy wasn’t put out by his reaction. Instead, he grinned wider and wrapped his arm around his petulant lover’s waist. He practically purred, “Soon? I want you to be mine. I want to be yours, Lee.”

Lee sulked. Guy fought hard against a good chuckle at the sight of Lee’s bottom lip sticking out. “That is not fair,” he pouted, “I want to marry you too, but Sakura and Tenten are not due back in Konoha for several months.”

“I know, I know,” Guy acquiesced as he took the dripping dish offered to him. “But they could always come back for a single day.”

“Guy,” Lee sighed. “It takes them both nearly a week to travel here. We would disrupt two weeks of their training for two hours. We can wait. We have waited this long already.”

“As always, you’re right - my darling lotus,” he slyly added and watched Lee’s cheeks redden. 

“Can we talk about something else?” he muttered. His brows shot up, and he asked, “Has anyone heard from Master Jiraiya lately?”

Guy had been waiting for this question. Nearly every other day or so, it would come up – like clockwork. And the answer was always the same, much to Lee’s disappointment and Guy’s continuous chagrin. 

“Lady Tsunade hasn’t mentioned anything,” Guy said apologetically. “And Kakashi hasn’t told me if Jiraiya has been around.” 

Lee sighed and sank into the chair nearest to him. He complained, “It has been so long, though. We have not been told anything new in months.” 

Months wasn’t an overestimation, sadly, and Guy knew how it ate at Lee. He sat the dish towel aside and stood behind the chair. Kneading Lee’s now-tense shoulders, he hummed softly. Lee leaned into the touch.

“They have had the altar for three years. Surely, we would have heard if they had gotten through, right?” 

He looked up to Guy for reassurance. While Guy did not know for certain whether the lack of news was good or bad, he reached down to take Lee’s hand. 

“Jiraiya will find it.”

Lee sighed and kissed Guy’s hand. He was obviously still worried, but he said no more about the matter. Guy admired his strength and the resolve that he displayed while facing the situation with the altar. Before, Guy would have chased Lee across the world as he hunted down the altar himself, but he had grown, really matured (despite the maturing he had done in the other dimension). Lee was trusting Jiraiya to carry out this leg of the mission. And that was all they could do: trust and wait. 

“Will you help me with some indoor training?” Guy asked suddenly, hoping to distract Lee from his heartache for a bit. 

As expected, Lee perked right up. He declared, “Yes! We can train together!”

“Yes! I love that youthful fire of yours!”

The couple left the rest of the dishes undone as they moved into the other end of the house to train. Guy had chosen the right way to distract the younger man. He easily goaded Lee into some light competition. It amused them both to see who could do more one-handed handstand push-ups versus who could do chin-ups with the other person clinging to them for added weight. In the end, they decided there was no real winner (mainly because Guy had slightly cheated with their sit-ups and Lee had had to retaliate), and so they retired to the couch to cool down.  
It was then that a knock at the door surprised them. Both heads turned toward the sound. Lee stood when Guy made no move to move. He pulled the door open. Shikaku Nara had his hand raised to knock again, but he quickly lowered it. 

“Rock Lee,” he said formally, “The Hokage requests your presence at once.”

Lee didn’t hesitate to pull on his shoes and start for the door. Guy stood, wondering if he ought to follow, but the Hokage’s advisor saved him the trouble of deliberating.

“And Guy?” Shikaku called past Lee, “You should probably come too.”

They followed the man back to Hokage Tower where he led them directly to Lady Tsunade’s office. He knocked twice, and the door opened. Tsunade and Shizune stood with a young purple-haired woman wearing foreign, yet familiar armor. Guy stepped through the door but felt Lee falter beside him. He looked back to see a look of utter disbelief on his Most Important Person’s face. 

“Aya?”

Guy’s heart dropped into the pit of his stomach for Lee. She couldn’t be here. That couldn’t be the famous Mirror shinobi. But there she was. Guy recognized the armor now as the same strange uniform that Lee had worn when he first reappeared in the Leaf. There was no doubt that this girl was from the Mirror.

Neither the girl nor the other two women gave any indication that they had heard Lee’s shocked whisper. He winced in sympathy for his love and held out his hand to him. A small part of him feared that if this was not the right woman, Lee might break. But if it was the right woman, then it could signal bad news for both villages. 

“Lee,” he murmured, gently urging the dumbfounded shinobi through the door. The younger man stumbled in behind him, and a shadow pushed the door closed. 

* * *

“We do have a shinobi who has spent time in your village,” Tsunade assured the girl, continuing the conversation that had been interrupted. She swept a hand toward the two men that had entered the office to punctuate her statement. Guy and Lee inclined their heads respectfully. 

“Uncle,” the girl, Lien, said stiffly as she bowed deeply to Guy. 

Lee glanced at the others in the room. They also seemed confused by the familial term that the stranger used to address Guy. He wondered if she was in the habit of calling all older, higher-ranked men from her village ‘Uncle’. Maybe it was a current trend in the Mirror. Lingo picked up in other villages did not always translate well to new ones. It had taken him over a year to stop saying ‘Mirror’ in place of ‘Kami’. Though, if it was just a shift in language, it was an odd one. However, Guy seemed only a little disarmed by the girl. 

The older shinobi chuckled nervously and motioned toward Lee. He offered, “I think you mean him.”

Lee stepped forward and offered her his hand. Despite the awkwardly familiar form of address, Lee intended to show her the respect she deserved. She gripped his forearm as he did hers too. Two shinobi once from the Mirror, sharing this moment in the Hokage’s office. Lee was uncertain how many miles, how many traumas she had traversed to be there with him. But judging from the blood smeared on the corner of her mouth, and the obvious signs of blast fallout on her clothing, she had been through much to come to the Leaf.

The villains must have managed to activate the altar. 

His knees buckled under him. He grabbed for the nearest chair once she released his hand and gave her a wan smile. 

“What brings a Mirror shinobi to Konoha?”

Her jaw jumped as she stiffened. Her shoulders drew back, her back straightened ramrod. Her voice threatened to shake. Lee could nearly hear the waver when she explained, “Rogue nin came through the Mirror. They attacked our village and took the Mishūkage.”

 _The old man?_ Lee thought, picturing the Mishūkage being dragged from his office by ruffians, his HoShann guards incapacitated all around him. He swallowed hard.

“Do, uh, do you know where they might have taken him?”

Her mouth puckered. “Him? My mother is our Mishūkage. Aya Kato.”

He twisted the chair around and promptly sank into it. Guy appeared behind him, gripping his shoulders, grounding him. Tsunade and Shizune looked at him with a knowing mixture of concern and sympathy. 

“Aya?” he repeated, his mouth twisting around the words. “You are Aya’s daughter?”

“You know my mother?” she demanded.

Guy murmured, “Uncle is more apt than she knows.”

The girl shot him a sharp look, to which he offered an apologetic smile. She shook her head and repeated her question to Lee. 

“Yes, I know your mother. She was my,” he struggled to find the word that best fit their relationship. “I was on her team under Daichi Hachiro when I was in the Mirror. She was my best friend. My sister. We lived together, trained together. Our lives were the same.”

Guy’s thumbs made gentle circles on the backs of Lee’s shoulders, reminding him that he was in the Leaf, that Aya had always been far away. The distance between them was immeasurable; he should not be so worked up. But here before him was this girl, a girl his own age. Older than her mother had been the last time that he had seen her. 

“How can that be? I bet you are no older than I am,” she challenged. “Daichi-sensei hasn’t had students since my mother was young.”

“Your mother never explained any of this to you,” Tsunade interrupted. “The other dimensions? How time moves between them?” The girl shook her head, causing the Hokage to make a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. 

The girl’s face twisted like she might make an ugly retort, but Guy intervened with an explanation: “Time passes differently here. When Lee went to the Mirror, he was gone from the Leaf for six months. When he returned though, he told us he had been living in your village for four years.”

“That’s impossible.”

Guy raised a brow. “You say that with such certainty for someone who has just travelled between dimensions.”

Lee held up a hand. He did not want to hear them argue. Gently he asked, “What is your name?”

“Lien. Lien Kato.”

“Lien, how did you know to come to the Leaf if you had never heard about me?” 

She crossed her arms and rocked back on her heels. “Mother,” she said as if that explained everything. At the blank looks on everyone’s faces, she sighed. “My mother told me, the whole village really, that if we were ever in the other dimension, we would find allies in the Village Hidden in the Leaf.”

Lee tried not to feel hurt that Aya had not talked about him. She surely had her reasons, whatever they may be. Part of him wanted to know more, though; he wanted to know why Daichi-sensei had not taken more teams after them, what Tsung-sensei was doing, what happened to the old Mishūkage. But he knew that Aya’s abduction was eminently important and they should not waste any more time. 

“I need help rescuing my mother,” she said as though she had read Lee’s mind.

Lee looked hopefully to Tsunade, who nodded. “I will not sit idly by while another village’s Kage is in danger, and the Village Hidden Behind the Mirror has been good to one of our own. I consider it an ally as well.”

“Then you’ll lend me a shinobi?” Lien asked hopefully, nodding toward Lee. 

“I’ll do something even better. I’ll assign an ANBU team to this mission,” she promised. 

Lee opened his mouth to protest, but Lien spoke first, “No, that won’t do. I can’t work with an entire other team. Too many people. We can move faster and strike better with less people.”

“Then I’ll lend you a couple of ANBU.”

The girl scowled. “I don’t want ANBU. If they’re like HoShann, they’re too hard to get along with. They want to lead and refuse to listen. I want to lead a team with one of your shinobi.”

“A team here is three to four, Lien,” Lee said patiently. “It is different than in the Mirror.”

“You obviously want to take Lee,” Tsunade surmised. “But if we were going to give you a team to lead, then I would be required to send at least one other shinobi with you.”

“What about him?” she nodded toward Guy.

Tsunade hesitated, considering the man in question. “I can’t assign him to your team. He is considered an essential member of the village. He isn’t on the list of active duty shinobi anymore,” she explained. 

Guy looked between the two women before finally offering, “I could become active again. If the Hokage allows.”

“Guy, you might not be there when the school year resumes,” Lee reminded the older man. He didn’t want Guy to miss out, but Guy resolutely looked to Tsunade for an answer. She returned his gaze, her brows drawn. 

“I know your position at the academy means a lot to you, Guy. Are you sure you want to give that up? This could be a long mission,” she warned. When he nodded, she sighed. 

“Very well. You have your team. Might Guy and Rock Lee have been assigned to this mission.”

Lee reached up and squeezed the hand on his shoulder. Guy was giving up his own life again for the Mirror, for Lee again. But this time they had concrete evidence, solid leads to go on. At least, he felt certain they must have something with Lien standing before them. 

“Do you know where Aya is?” he asked. 

“No,” she answered steadily, “But I know where the enemy was encamped when I came through the Doorway.”

The altar. It was not Aya, but it was a start. He nodded, his voice thick but determined, “Then we will begin there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays, everyone! I decided to go ahead and post the first chapter :) hope it hooks you!


	2. True Introductions

Lee returned to their home ahead of Guy. Lady Tsunade had insisted that they finish the paperwork to return him to active duty immediately. The impending mission already laid heavily on the shinobi’s mind. The knowledge that Aya, injured, was being held somewhere in his own dimension but out of his reach was distressing. He did not even wish to waste the time it would take to gather their packs and regroup at the village gates. However, experience tempered his impatience. Unlocking the door to their shared home, he knew they would need to be prepared for anything. 

However, he was unprepared for what awaited him within the house. 

On the floor before him, as though it had been slid under their door, waited a letter. It was addressed solely to him and held no indication of who had left it. The only people he expected letters from were his friends currently out of Konoha, and they would not have been able to slide it under the door. He grabbed the letter and glanced around the front room. Did he take the time to read it now or wait until they were on the road? 

It was unlikely it would relate to Aya and the altar, but perhaps Jiraiya had sent it somehow. 

The small chance pushed him to open the letter as he headed to their bedroom. Perching on the edge of their bed, he unfolded the paper.

_Dear Lee,_

_You may not remember me. I am Akari Goto, the matron at the orphanage here in Konoha. It has been a long time since we have had contact with one another, but we do keep up with your feats. Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials, by the way._

__

__

_Actually, that’s why I’m writing to you today. The orphanage is past capacity. We cannot take another child. Our means are stretched well beyond their limits. That is why we hoped that as an adult moving into the next stage of your life, you would be interested in giving back to those who gave to you when you had nothing. But rather than contribute financially, we hope you might choose to give one or more of our unfortunate wards a loving home._

_We recognize that this is a lot to ask of anyone, but we hope we can ask this of you._

_your caring friend,_

_Akari Goto_

Lee did in fact not remember the matron, but he could certainly sympathize with her circumstances. He vaguely recalled the days spent in the orphanage before he was accepted into the academy and granted a small shinobi apartment. 

While he was absolutely disappointed that this letter was not related to the Mirror, it was related to his heart’s most secret desire, a desire that itself related to the Mirror - or at least Aya. He craved a family. Aya was the closest he had ever had to his own family, and he wanted to build that with Guy. However, he kept pushing that discussion aside until after the wedding, afraid of what his soon-to-be husband might say. 

He sighed and refolded the letter to place in his pack. He had not the time nor inclination to reply to the matron before he left for his mission. As it were, he had wasted too much time and needed to rush to gather their supplies. He would not be the reason they were delayed.

They had to find Aya!

The packs packed, Lee flew out of the house to meet the other two at the gates. Lien crossed her arms, unimpressed, he assumed, by the slight delay. He understood though; he too wanted to be on their way and find Aya. 

As he took his pack, Guy offered him a gentle smile that warmed his heart. Lee found his fingers toying with the edge of the letter in his pocket. Maybe, his heart said, the conversation would not go as badly as he feared. 

The girl’s impatient voice broke in on his warm, hopeful thoughts.

“Are you going to stand there staring at each other all day? Or are we going to find my mother?” 

“Right, we should go,” he agreed, pushing any thoughts on children to the back of his mind. Guy nodded and swept an arm, offering Lien the lead. It made sense, Lee supposed as they marched after her. Finding Aya was technically her mission and they were just on loan, but to him, Aya herself was more important than any purported authority. 

Lien set a hard pace for them, often consulting the map she had drawn up with Lady Tsunade while Guy had done his paperwork. Lee had mentally mapped their journey from the few glances he had managed over her shoulder. They were nearing the edge of the Land of Fire. The encampment she had arrived in was far from Konoha, down in the Land of Rivers. Though time was of the essence, they would need to camp for the night.

Guy seemed to share his mind. The older shinobi slowed his pace and called to the girl who threatened to leave him behind, “Lien, we should camp here!”

She stopped so suddenly that Lee would have plowed into her had he not already begun slowing. As it were, he did trip into her cane, earning himself a hard (but surely accidentally) knock across the ankle. 

“We don’t have time to camp!”

“Please hear us out,” Lee said, “We are near the border for the Lands of Fire and Rivers. Once we cross, we cannot have a fire nor truly camp. This will be the last safe spot as far as we know.”

Lien scowled and looked up at the sky. The light had not yet begun to fade. Lee knew how it must rankle her to be told they could not push forward. How many times had Guy or Lady Tsunade held him from his duty to the Mirror? He hoped that she would not be as reckless as he. 

His hopes came to fruition when she pointed to the clearing below. “We’ll camp there.”

They pitched the camp together, the three of them. Lien had said that they should go ahead with the tents since she felt they were unlikely to be attacked; their camp was small, two tents with the fire burning brightly in between them. 

Guy sat by the fire, holding Lee’s hand, when Lien came out of her tent. Her eyes moved from their single tent to their joined hands. She scowled as she joined them by the fire.

“Is something wrong, Lien?” Guy finally asked when the girl said nothing. 

With a wave toward their tent, she asked sourly, “Don’t you think only having one tent on a mission is unprofessional?” 

Lee opened his mouth to retort. However, Guy managed to speak first. Innocently, he asked, “Why do you say that?”

“Because,” she started with a flustered gesture at their joined hands, “It’s inappropriate. Unprofessional. For couples.” She huffed in frustration when Guy gave her a puzzled expression. 

“You didn’t say anything when we discussed whether to even set up camp,” he reminded her.

“I hadn’t realized,” she started before scowling. “One of you will either take first watch or sleep by the fire.”

Before Lee could protest, Guy gently squeezed his hand and stood. “I’ll take the first watch, my lotus. I’ll start with a perimeter patrol. If that’s okay with you, Lien.”

Lien narrowed her eyes but did not argue. With a wink to Lee, the older man leapt into the canopy and disappeared.

With Guy gone, Lee pulled out the letter and fingered the edge, his mind turning over the words that lay within. Lien watched him across the fire for several minutes; he could feel her crimson eyes on him, but she did not say anything. She did not approach him. 

Finally, the silence became too much, and Lee spoke, “I am not mad at you.”

“I didn’t say you were,” she countered as she moved to sit beside him. “What do you have there?”

He pocketed the letter and murmured, “If you do not mind, I would prefer not to talk about it.”

“Fine,” she said in a tone that told him it was anything but fine. She crossed her arms and stared into the fire, and he was struck by how much she looked like a sullen child rather than the next Mishūkage. 

Touching the paper in his pocket, he deliberated. He did not want to give her what she wanted because she was pouting, but he also wanted to speak to someone about the letter. Desperately so, but he could not yet speak to Guy. And his two closest friends were training in other villages. He could not bring himself to burden Neji with the letter either. 

He sighed and pulled the paper from his pocket. As he unfolded the paper, he demanded, “You must swear not to speak to Guy about this.”

She crossed herself in a silent promise, but he shook his head. “Not good enough. I want a shinobi’s oath.”

“I swear on the Mirror that I will not tell Guy,” she muttered, rolling her eyes. 

“I hold you to that,” he promised. “It is a letter from an orphanage in our village.”

“So?”

“I grew up in this orphanage,” he explained, “And now they have written me this letter to inform me that they have too many children.”

“Why you? You don’t live there anymore.”

He glanced around to make sure Guy had not come back into earshot before lowering his voice, “They hope I will adopt at least one of the children.”

She looked shocked. “We aren’t old enough to raise children!”

“Was Aya not our age when she had you?”

“What’s your point?” she asked defensively. 

He tucked the paper back into his flak jacket. “I only mean that shinobi have children at our age often. And if you have not noticed, Guy is a little older. I believe they feel that between the two of us we are stable enough to have a child. Especially because Guy no longer goes on missions.”

“Yeah, I noticed your Hokage mentioned that. What’s the deal there?”

“Guy used to lead a team and participate in missions, but around three years ago, the Hokage placed him at the Ninja Academy as a punishment for disobeying orders. It was only supposed to last a few months, but Guy loved it. And the kids all love him, so he could not leave. And we were fine without him on our team,” he explained.

“He disobeyed orders and is still a shinobi?"

He nodded and leaned back against the tree behind him. If he told her the whole story, how would she react? If she knew how much trouble they had gone through for her village, would she be more understanding? Or would she be upset that they had not retrieved the altar before her mother was stolen from her? 

"Yes," he finally said, "He followed me out of the village when we both had been ordered to remain there." He could not lie, but he did not wish to tell her the truth - not yet anyway. 

"What was your punishment?" 

He grimaced. "Honestly, all things considered my punishment was not bad. It was more of a blow to my pride. I had to do one hundred D-rank missions by myself, which was not bad! But Lady Tsunade also would not let me become a jōnin for a year after that."

"That doesn't sound like much of a punishment."

"You have to understand. My entire team consisted of jōnin, and I was still a genin. It embarrassed me to be almost nineteen and still at that level," he explained. 

She pointed out, "But you weren't really at that level. If she was preventing you from increasing your rank, then you were at that level already. Isn't that what made it a punishment? That you deserved it and couldn't have it?"

"I thought you said that it did not sound like much of a punishment."

She shrugged. "It doesn't. You don't always get what you deserve."

A moment of silence passed between them before Lien spoke again, "Why did you disobey your orders?"

Lee sighed and scratched the back of his neck. "There was something I had to do, something that I felt was more important than the Hokage's orders."

She stared at him, waiting for him to continue. When he did not, she demanded, "That's it? That's all you're going to say?"

He nodded before resting his head against the tree, his eyes shut. That was how he remained until Guy returned. The older man gently ruffled Lee’s long hair before nudging him with his foot.

“You awake?”

Lee nodded and looked up at his betrothed. 

“Would you like to spar?”

Lee glanced over at Lien who seemed more concerned with applying salve to her lame leg than listening to their conversation. If it would not set her off, he supposed he could not see the harm. 

“Of course.”

He took the proffered hand and pulled himself up. They moved to the other side of the clearing, away from their tents. Lee grinned as he sank into the Dorei Dansu stance. One foot slid behind him as he raised an elbow to guard his face, his hand hovering the air near his shoulder. Guy waggled his eyebrows before moving into a starting Strong Fist stance. 

Lien seemed to have forgotten about her leg as she watched the two men trade blows. Lee would occasionally catch her eye before Guy forced his attention back to the spar at hand. But he knew she was watching because once when he forced Guy a short distance away with a strong kick, she shouted. 

“Use ninjutsu to maintain the distance!”

Both men paused momentarily so Lee could answer, “I cannot. I can only use taijutsu.”

Lien looked inappropriately horrified as she muttered something that might have been, “You’re real.” However, Lee had no chance to pursue the matter because Guy picked then to open the second gate. 

Several hours and one dinner of warmed rations later, the trio sat around the fire. The men’s conversation had fallen off into companionable silence, leaving each to their own devices. It was quiet until Guy cleared his throat.

“What did you mean earlier, Lien? About Lee being real?”

Lien pushed at a fallen leaf with the tip of her cane. Lee leaned forward on the log across the fire from her, brows raised. She looked up, and they searched one another’s faces through the smoke. Finally she explained, “Mother told me stories of the Boy Who Couldn't Use Ninjutsu, great tales of a shinobi so strong that he could beat his opponents with just taijutsu. I believed in him when I was little, but the older I became, the more I believed that she wanted me to feel better about being the Girl Who Can't Use Taijutsu.”

She turned her cane on the burnt wood at the edge of the fire in silence. The sound of the crackling flames filled the air between the trio. Guy caught Lee’s eye, but he did not know what to say either. He struggled to find something comforting to say when Lien suddenly laughed. It was a low, bitter sound that weighed on Lee’s heart.

“I made the mistake of telling her that once, that the Boy was just a tale she made up to make me feel good. She acted like I had said something terrible about Ojiisan. She looked down at me with her eyes all intense and said, ‘He's your uncle, Lien. When it comes to the Reflection of Soul, that boy is your uncle.’

The flames danced in her crimson eyes as her mouth moved. Lee would have thought she said a silent prayer if the words had not risen just barely above the fire: “But I thought she was speaking in metaphors.”

He supposed Aya had been speaking in metaphors in a sense. He had been the one to introduce their village to a shinobi incapable of changing their chakra. He was her predecessor, an uncle in spirit, the first to show the Mirror that a shinobi could have obstacles that limited their jutsu and still be capable. 

But Aya had meant more, he was certain. Looking at Lien, he could see her mother so clearly that it made his heart ache. This girl, a shinobi his own age, was his niece; there was not a doubt in his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Sorry that it's been so long! I haven't abandoned this fic. We've just all been struggling. Thanks for reading! I live for kudos, comments, criticism :)


	3. Bonding in Progress

“Do you want to go back?”

Lee rolled onto his side and propped his head up on his hand. Before him, Aya laid on her back staring up at the stars. The pinpricks of distant light shone in her crimson eyes as she obstinately refused to meet Lee’s eyes. Her stubborn attention on the stars that clued him in to her meaning - and she was not asking if he wanted to return to their apartment for the night. Incredulously, he asked, “How did you go from teaching me your constellations to asking me something like that?”

She raised a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “I was just thinking that I like having you around but that eventually someone will figure out how to send you home.” 

“I was worried you were going to say you hoped I would go back,” he admitted quietly as he rolled back on to his back and looked at the constellation she had just pointed out. The Hound. He could only imagine Akamaru, Kiba’s ninja hound. It had been so long since he had seen the other Leaf genin. Surely after nearly two years, they had declared him dead, but if they had not, they would soon. 

He wondered how his team in the Leaf would feel when the Hokage finally did. 

A flare of guilt began in his gut as he thought about the fear that had reared up in him when he thought Aya wanted to send him home. It burned at his lack of need to return. How could he wonder about his former comrades without leaping to his feet and insisting they find a way to send him home?

His gaze slid to the girl beside him. She was how his Will of Fire could be so tempered. 

“I feel obligated to return,” he finally answered - hesitantly. When she did not immediately answer, he felt he had to explain himself, “I mean that I want to stay with you, but I know that you could not possibly come with me. And I love the Mirror. I love Tsung-sensei and Daichi-sensei.”

“Yeah, you love Daichi-sensei,” she snickered. 

He punched her thigh and continued as though she had not spoken, “Tsung-sensei is like the grandfather I never knew. I cannot imagine leaving him behind. And you...”

He had to swallow the lump that suddenly grew in his throat, choking his words. “Aya,” he continued, “You are the sister I never had. I always wanted a family, and I thought that I had found one in my team in the Leaf, but it was not like this. Guy-sensei is a great mentor, and he has taught me how to push myself to become stronger. But Neji? Neji is a friend and a rival. He is not my brother. And Tenten is a dear friend, not my sister.”

He shook his head. “I am ashamed. I feel like I am betraying them by saying that. After all, how can I have a stronger connection for people I have only known for almost two years than the people I was on a team with?”

Aya rolled to face him, her eyes sympathetic. “Lee, you weren’t with them that long, and you can’t help how you feel. Don’t beat yourself up. Sometimes we meet the people who are meant to be our family where we least expect it. I hate that we’re so close because I know you. I know how much your home means to you. You’ll honor your duty to them. If we find a way to send you home, you’ll return, and that will be the end of what we all have here.”

Lee’s eyes welled with tears as he mimicked her position. She was not wrong. He had been with his team for only a couple of years before he disappeared too. But Konoha had given him everything. He could not turn his back on his duty to them, not now. 

“Hey stop moping over there and look at this one,” Aya demanded as she pointed to a grouping of stars directly above them. Grateful for the sudden distraction, he turned his attention from his torn loyalties. When his eyes followed her finger, she grinned and said, “That’s the Warrior. See his sword there? He fights alongside the Hound to protect the night sky.” 

Her finger zigged overhead, tracing the imagined weapon. Lee nodded and wiped the tears from his eye. 

“While you’re here, that’s us. But I get to be the Warrior because I can actually use a sword,” she quipped before sticking her tongue out at him. Lee gave her shoulder a playful shrug, the sadness already falling away.  


* * *

A rustling at the tent flap drew Lee from his memories. He rolled to smile at Guy as he slipped inside. Guy returned the smile, and Lee felt his insides somersault.The fine lines that crinkled at the edges of Guy’s eyes when he smile never failed to make Lee swoon - just a little at least. He motioned to the tent flap questioningly.

“She’s patrolling the perimeter,” the older man answered as he laid down beside Lee, who immediately moved closer to his beloved. 

“She will be angry if she catches you in here,” Lee warned. He was not trying to upset the girl if he could help it, even if she did have some unfortunate notions about the nature of working missions with loved ones.

Because Guy had no such reservations, he murmured, “Let her,” as he leaned forward and captured Lee’s lips. Lee smiled against the soft satin and (after a long minute) pulled away. 

He stroked along Guy’s jaw and admonished gently, “You should not antagonize her. We are all on the same team here.”

Guy chuckled and brought Lee’s hand to his lips to kisses to his fingertips. “I’ll keep that in mind. Where were you when I came in?”

Heaving a sigh, Lee reclaimed his hand and rolled onto his back. His pensive mood could only be held at bay for so long apparently. “In the Mirror, of course. ” 

“Ah. Well, where else would you go after the day we’ve had?”

Guy was right, even if he did not know everything about the day. Lee thought of all the news that the day had brought him. The orphanage had offered him a child. The altar had resurfaced. He had a niece now. Aya was in his dimension. 

He did not know where to begin processing. 

He had the chance at a family now - a family of more than two. Lien and Aya were nearly within his reach. If Guy, as Lee believed, did not want children, surely he would not begrudge Lee a sister and a niece. And Lien, as prickly as she was, did not seem entirely displeased with the idea of Lee as an uncle. She did not seem the type to keep her displeasure to herself, so he had to at least believe they were on fairly impartial terms already, though it leaned ever so slightly toward uncomfortable.

Lee sighed and laid his head on his arm. He wished he knew what his niece was thinking. Or honestly, more about her in general. She was not the most forthcoming, but she was a shinobi. This was a mission to rescue her kage, not just her mother. He should not blame her for being prickly. 

One thing was clear to him, though. He already loved her. She was a piece of Aya. He could see her every time he looked at the girl. Their hair was nearly the same shade of purple, their eyes an identical red. Sure, Lien wore her hair differently, and Aya was more of a lithe build. And Lien was also slightly older than Aya had been when he last saw her. But it was easy to look at Lien and see who Aya had most likely grown to become in his absence, even if her personality was vastly different from her daughter’s.

Kami, he missed Aya.

“Lee, don’t get lost on me now. What’re you thinking about?” Guy interrupted. 

Lee rolled to face him once more and shook his head. “Maybe Lien was right. Maybe we should not have camped tonight. We need to find Aya.”

“Hey,” Guy said sharply. His tone stern but not unkind, he said, “Lee, you can’t drive yourself into the ground searching. You and Lien would both run nonstop, I can already see it. We have to pace ourselves. We don’t know what we’ll be walking into out there, okay? We have to be at our best if we want to stop these people and save Aya.”

He was right, of course. He was frequently right, and all Lee could do was smile. He wrapped his fingers around Guy’s wrist, the man’s heart thudding evenly beneath his touch. Steady and solid. His Guy.

“Thank you,” he murmured. 

Guy pulled him close and pressed a kiss to his hair. “Any time, my lotus. Anytime,” he whispered. 

They remained together until Lien returned and ran Lee out of the tent. Guy winked at him and raised a hand in farewell. Lee held the image in his mind as he took his turn around the perimeter. 

Guy was a good man. The best man, in fact. He grounded Lee, kept him from spiralling. Guy was his second set of eyes when he was too close, and having talked to him, Lee could not keep from smiling as he made laps around the camp. 

Everything would be okay. With Guy at his back, he could face anything. Weather anything. They would find Aya whole and well, and they would recover the altar. They would! He continued to tell himself that as he roused the other two in the wee hours of the morning. 

Despite the lack of light, Lien immediately leapt into action upon being awakened. The dull glow of dawn could not dim the fire in her eyes as she demanded they pack up camp.

“You can eat as you run,” she tossed over her shoulder as she moved to pack her own belongings. 

Guy embraced Lee from behind and murmured, “Ah, the youthful fire burns bright in our dear niece.”

Lee could not help the pleased thrill that ran through him at Guy’s words as he turned to kiss his future husband. “You are being generous this morning.”

Their niece. The phrase turned in his mind as they gathered their belongings. Guy had so effortlessly added Lien officially to their family, Lee had been slightly worried that the antagonism between the two would put the older shinobi off the girl, but it had not and Lee’s heart felt like it might explode from joy!

His family was expanding. They were finally on their way to finding Aya and the altar. He was able to eat and run after his niece. Nothing could go wrong for Lee!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Or so he thought...

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Be sure to let me hear your thoughts in the comments!


End file.
